The
heat is on for the Royal College of Psychiatrists. For years now,
senior members of the profession have made very public pronouncements
that "antidepressants" are safe, non-addictive and life-saving. The
mainstream media has given them an easy ride - they are, after all,
leaders in their field, trusted for their expert knowledge and
integrity. But for how much longer?

As the public mood on antidepressants begins to sour, the Royal College
of Psychiatrists will quietly disassociate itself from this stance. It
is already happening.

This pithy review by 'perimele6' captures the overall tone of people's
comments...

"Why
doesn't this weird little video just come out and admit it:
antidepressants are physically addictive and stopping causes awful
withdrawal? It's creepy how this video invokes authority to skirt the
issue...﻿"

But catch it while you can because official guidance from the College
on this matter is disappearing fast. The commentary on the video ends
by saying "To find out
more about coming off antidepressants, visit the Royal College of
Psychiatrists website."

And there is a helpful link to the RCPsych Health Advice webpage...

"The
resource
you're looking for is not available. It may have been moved or deleted."

How
long before the link to this video goes the same way?

5 comments

View comments

SPB says:October
24th 2018

Just
to explain to the public why these drugs and many other drugs are so
dangerous. We all have metabolising enzymes which break down the drugs.
We have a one size fits all drug health system but we DO NOT have a one
size fits all enzyme metabolising system.....we are ALL different. An
area of science called Pharmacogenetics proves this. If you are unable
to metabolise the drugs correctly you can become toxic, drug toxicity
can cause a condition called Akathisia which at it's worst is toxic
psychosis. It is THE condition which causes suicide ideation,
completed suicide and even attempted and actual murder.

To boot
there is a gene test which has been around for a long time which
predicts the phenotype (strength of enzymes) but nobody in the UK gets
this test and few know about it.

Now if you are
unfamiliar to
all this you may find it difficult and confusing, but it is very
important to know, so do work on understanding it.

Medication Madness:The Role of
Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide, and
Crime by Peter R. Breggin M.D.

Auntie Psychiatry
says:October
27th 2018

SPB: "To boot
there is a gene test which has been around for a long time which
predicts the phenotype (strength of enzymes) but nobody in the UK gets
this test and few know about it."

I’ve
been trying to dig into this - it seems that public awareness in the US
is much more advanced, and the American Psychiatric Association is
clearly getting nervous. The APA set up a "task-force" to
investigate and report back on these tests. Who chaired the task-force?
One Dr
Charles Nemeroff
MD Ph.D. Now
where have I heard that name before...? Psychiatric
News: Task force on Pharmacogenomic Testing

And here's more
from the APA's
Psychiatric
News...A
15-year-old girl presents with depression and obsessive-compulsive
disorder. You suggest fluoxetine to treat both conditions, given its
extensive testing in young people with depression; however, her mom
tells you her daughter can’t take fluoxetine “because of her genes.”
She hands you the print-out of a commercial genetic test indicating
that fluoxetine should only be used “with increased caution and more
frequent monitoring."

If
you haven’t encountered a scenario like this yet, you may soon [...]
Some psychiatrists with expertise in genetics and pharmacology have a
counter message for clinicians and the public: Not so fast.

SPB
says:October
28th 2018
AP: "One Dr
Charles Nemeroff
MD Ph.D. Now where have I heard that
name before...?"

"One
of the nation’s most influential psychiatrists earned more than $2.8
million in consulting arrangements with drug makers from 2000 to 2007,
failed to report at least $1.2 million of that income to his university
and violated federal research rules, according to documents provided to
Congressional investigators.

In one telling
example, Dr.
Nemeroff signed a letter dated July 15, 2004, promising Emory
administrators that he would earn less than $10,000 a year from
GlaxoSmithKline to comply with federal rules. But on that day, he was
at the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo., earning $3,000 of
what would become $170,000 in income that year from that company — 17
times the figure he had agreed on."

So
what does this mean ? Well you could be eating foods and taking
supplements that are actually contributing to you becoming toxic on
psychiatric drugs.

Michael Ashman says:October
26th 2018

Auntie,
I've come to the conclusion that RCPsych have generously taken it upon
themselves to believe their own hyperbole in order that the rest of us
don't have to.

Auntie Psychiatry
says:October
27th 2018

LOL!They are certainly
full of it.

Bramble says:October 31st 2018

Nice one Auntie!

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26th
June 2018

Akathisia: Iatrogenic Hell

I've
been wanting to do a cartoon about akathisia for a while, but was stuck
for ideas of how to portray the concept in picture form. Then I read a
conversation in the comments section of David Healy's June 7th blog
post discussing this very topic. One particular suggestion by Laurie
O. stuck in my mind and wouldn't leave me be: an illustration
of the hangman game with the word AKATHISIA spelled out in the spaces
underneath.

Why the image of a hanging figure? At its worst, akathisia can cause
such intense torment that the sufferer's only escape is suicide, often
by violent means such as hanging. Loved ones are left with many painful
questions as the death was usually unforeseen and completely out of
character.

While researching the subject of akathisia, I sought out medical
definitions of the word, and watched as much youtube footage of people
suffering as I could bear. I was struck by the contrast in language.
The main phrase I encountered on medical sites was "inner restlessness."
That nearly made its way into my wordsearch, but when I listened to the
words of people in the throes of akathisia, I realised this was an
insipid, appeasing kind of phrase. So I gritted my teeth and made a
note of the recurring themes from the youtube footage. Torment.
Torture. Terror. Living nightmare. Destroyed. Horror movie. Constant
fear. Incessant movement. No relief. Bugs under the skin. Lonely.
Isolating. Humiliating. Dismissed. Disbelieved.

And as I collected these words, I remembered my own brush with
akathisia. It was many years ago, quarter of a century, in fact. On
admission to a psych-ward, I was drugged up with enough haloperidol to
floor an elephant. Despite being billed as a powerful "antipsychotic",
it made not a dint in my raging insanity. A few weeks later I crash
landed, and found myself trapped in an unfamiliar body with a will of
its own. By then I was compos mentis enough to recognise these weird,
involuntary movements as the drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms I had
studied at University. My main fear was Tardive Dyskinesia, and I
voiced my concern to the psychiatrist. He listened, then gestured to my
jiggling, kicking right leg and said: "Well, tardive dyskinesia comes
later. For now, you have akathisia."

When I listen to the youtube accounts of akathisia, or hear of yet
another youngster on psych-drugs found hanging, I feel that I escaped
lightly.

To Laurie O: If you are reading this - thank you for the
inspiration.

4th
July 2018: UPDATE

I'm
happy to say that Laurie O. has found my website and e-mailed me to ask
for permission to use this cartoon for tee-shirts. Absolutely! I only
have one goal with this work - to raise awareness - so please feel free
to use the images for that. Re-visiting the cartoon, I
realised it works perfectly well as an actual wordsearch puzzle, so
here is a blank version for people print off and distribute - Go nuts!

5 comments

View comments

Deirdre says:July
4th 2018

This is great! And to find your website.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:July
4th 2018

Deirdre, Thank you very much - I'm so glad you found me!

Streetphotobeing says:July
5th 2018

This is very important indeed. Akathisia is one of the most
devastatingly horrific conditions anyone can suffer, and certainly a
major cause of suicide ideation and completed suicide. But it seems
that even psychiatrists who are well aware of all the evidence refuse
to accept it. This is because they have prescribed SSRI's and lurking
at the back of their minds, know full well that they are responsible
for this utterly horrific condition. It is a totally preventable
iatrogenic extreme state caused by doctors who refuse to accept they
are responsible, backed up by a state that also refuses to accept
responsibility. Pharmacogenetics will prove Akathisia has been caused
by doctors. And these doctors need to be held to account for this
terrible human rights abuse that has caused more serious psychiatric
labels, (psychosis/serious depression for life) death and ruined lives
and families. We need to demand compensation.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:July
5th 2018"It is a
totally preventable iatrogenic extreme state caused by doctors
who refuse to accept they are responsible, backed up by a state that
also refuses to accept responsibility."

Yes, and "Mental Health Charities" with their "anti-stigma" campaigns
and celebrity puppets pushing more and more people towards doctors for
"treatment"... and the mainstream media conveniently failing to ask any
questions about prescription psych-drugs when reporting yet another
death by hanging, instead lamenting the terrible lack of funding for
"Mental Health care" ... it's all win, win, win for Psychiatry.

Michael Ashman says:July
7th 2018

Hi Auntie! Wow, this is poignant and hard-hitting 'tooning about a
dreadful treatment-induced experience which too many suffer without
justification - or indeed, justice.

One of the things I've seen
over the years is psychiatrists prescribing SSRIs to people who are
low. Some of the poor folk then develop horrible agitation and the
psychs claim that they have uncovered bipolar disorder. The "medical"
interpretation is that as the person bounced back from the low, they
went high due to latent bipolar affective disorder. No darlings, you
haven't revealed a disease, you've imposed one. RIP primum non nocere.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:July
7th 2018

Primum non nocere - First, do no harm.

"The
"medical" interpretation is that as the person bounced back from the
low, they went high due to latent bipolar affective disorder."

A
diagnosis of a lifelong severe mental illness that no-one can prove
wrong because there are no objective tests, so from this point forward
you're on a slippery slope with nothing to hold on to. More drugs, more
iatrogenic damage, more fictitious diagnoses... and sliding down you go.

Bill Bradford says:September
3rd 2018

I'm a surviving victim of the
lies of the pseudoscience drug racket known as "psychiatry".

My own personal experience is called "anecdotal".

But
yes, psych drugs in general, and so-called "anti-depressants", BOTH,
made me more violent, and even suicidal, than I was before the drugs,
or have been since getting off the drugs. Thank God I didn't hurt
anybody, OR myself, when I was on the psych drugs. If I'd known then,
what I know now, I would NEVER have gone to the psychs, or taken their
poison pills. Psychiatry is nothing more than 21st Century Phrenology,
with potent neuro-toxins. And yes, there are NUMEROUS examples in my
own medical record, alone: PSYCHIATRISTS LIE!....

Auntie
Psychiatry says:September
5th 2018

Bill - thank you. Your experience is not "anecdotal" it is all too
real, and all too familiar.

You said: "If I'd known
then, what I know now, I would NEVER have gone to the psychs, or taken
their poison pills."

A
familiar refrain - let's keep spreading that message in the hope of
saving others from the same fate. As Streetphotobeing says: Going to a doctor with a ‘MH’
condition is like getting out of the boat…. Apocylypse Now (YouTube 13 seconds)

Aria says:November 17th 2018

Years ago I had a consultation with a neurologist who
told me I had the worst Akathisia he's ever seen. I had no idea what he
was talking about? Why hadn't my psychiatrist noticed? Because he
ceased seeing me as a person years ago. I can't think of adequate words
to describe Akathisia.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:November 18th 2018

Aria - I'm so sorry to hear this. Psychiatrists are wilfully
ignorant about the neurological damage caused by their reckless drug
pushing. They have to be, otherwise they wouldn't be able to do the
job. That's why it's so important for us to get the word "akathisia"
out there and understood by as many people as possible. Spread the word!

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"In this episode,
Prof Sir Simon Wessely, Consultant Psychiatrist and Past President of
the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Prof Clare Gerada, GP and Past
Chairperson of the Royal College of General Practitioners, discuss the
increasing use of antidepressants..."

And indeed they do. About ten minutes in, Sir Simon delivers a homily
on the subject of "addiction". He opens with the line: "Addiction is pretty well
described, and most of the population know what it is," he
then patiently explains to us all how "antidepressants" are NOT
addictive, and that, in any case, "addiction
isn't the right issue to talk about."

As he talked, loud bells began ringing - where had I heard this before?
Of course! It was the same argument that Big Tobacco put forward in the
1990s with the claim that "Nicotine is not addictive." A quick Google
search uncovered uncanny parallels between the two. It didn't take long
to track down the almost word-for-word same argument from RJ Reynolds
Tobacco CEO, James Johnston, in his evidence to Congress in 1994. Watch
this...

Oh Auntie, I can just see how this
develops over the next
few decades as anti-depressants follow the trends set by tobacco....
graphic
pictures of people experiencing side effects on the packets, an alcove
in the
supermarket where the anti-depressants are kept behind a curtain,
internet
videos of dead actors telling you how they'd be alive today if they
hadn't have
used etc etc

And fingers crossed, Wessely and his
ideology confined to
the dustbin of history.

PS
Big Pharma has already followed their tobacco industry
colleagues by developing markets in low income countries once they'd
milked all
they could from the high income countries.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:June
18th 2018Yes,
but you can bet that Wessely and co will get off scot-free just as
James Johnston and the others in Big Tobacco got away with it.

Michael Ashman
says:June
20th
2018

I
remember watching those congressional hearings on a BBC documentary
some years ago. Watching those CEOs squirm in response to being
questioned about whether they'd want their children to smoke led to me
becoming an ex-smoker. I simply no longer wanted to buy into that kind
of product, put money into the pockets of those I'd seen "testifying"
(under oath?) or subscribe to the world according to them. I made a
similar choice with psychiatric medicines. So in a sense neither
Johnston nor Wessely got off completely scot-free, even if my buying
out of their version of the world is a blow they are unlikely to feel.
Perhaps others will take your 'tooning to heart and reduce their
markets further.

On
a similar note, I wonder if you saw the RCPsych editorial "Shrink
Rethink: Rebranding psychiatry"
from 2017? It talks about using marketing methods to promote
psychiatry. It recommends all psychiatrists to adopt a "brand
architechture model", to be "brand psychiatry" and to adopt a mantra
which begins "Psychiatrists are doctors who feel with their mind and
think with their soul. They are just as comfortable with poetry as
pathology".

When
I first read this I assumed it was an April Fools spoof. Sadly no,
satire has indeed been overtaken by the weirdness of actuality.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:June
20th
2018

"Perhaps
others will take your 'tooning to heart and reduce their
markets further."Oh,
I do hope so. It's heartening to know that you could see the
psych-drugs racket in the same light as that of Big Tobacco. My guess
is that most people won't see it that way because Pharma has very
successfully manouvered trusted and respected members of the medical
profession to do the dirty work for them.

No,
I hadn't seen the "Shrink Rethink" editorial - thanks for that. As I
discover time and again when researching my cartoons, Psychiatry is
beyond parody. Makes my job a lot easier - they keep handed it to me on
a plate.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:June
19th 2018Thanks
Phil - I'm so glad you like it. This is one of those cartoons which
lived in my head a long time. Very early on I had the parallel quotes,
but how to present this visually eluded me. I got there in the end, and
I'm relieved to hear that it makes sense to others because I'm never
sure it will until it's out there.

fdh
says:July
28th
2018This
reminded me of this e-mail that Tracey Brown (who went on to run Sense
About Science) sent to British American Tobacco:

"I
have included, for interest, a number of relevant cuttings and press
releases kindly supplied by Frank Furedi, Tony Eaton and Simon
Wessely."

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24th
March 2018

Anatomy of a Confidence Trick

This
cartoon is my take on the ruckus surrounding the Cipriani et
al study
published by The Lancet
in February. Much has been written and said about the whole
affair, I became bleary- eyed keeping up with it all. Needless to say,
a swarm of ideas and images invaded my mind, and refused to settle or
leave me be. I wanted to find an amusing angle for this
cartoon and, in fact, my first response was bitter laughter at
the sheer audacity of such a blatant PR spin-job. In the UK, we were
treated to a blitz of the airwaves by several lead psychiatrists from
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, all pumped up and dutifully on
message: "Antidepressants
work, and depresion is under-treated." The
affair gathered pace and strength on blogs and social media, it is
still rumbling around, and is likely to do so for quite some time. Far
from "putting the controversy to bed", as the RCPsych hoped, they have
stirred up an almighty stink.

In
the end, the inspiration for this cartoon came from a book by Maria
Konnikova - The
Confidence Game: The Psychology of the con and why we fall for it every
time. For many hours I listened, entranced, to
the audiobook version, and was so captivated by the gentle sound of her
voice that I listened to it all again a few weeks later. Several
concepts from the book stayed with me, but the one that made the
biggest impression was this:

"Con artists, at their best and
worst, give us meaning. We fall for them because it would make our
lives better if the reality they proposed were indeed true."

A simple
magic pill to make it all better? How tempting! Sounds like a con, but
surely all those top-dog eminent professors can't be wrong... can they?

3
comments

View comments

Bernard
says:April
18th
2018The
top-dog eminent professors have never been more wrong than NOW! But,
its their salary which places them in an absolute state of denial and
resistance to change. They should have a look at the Anatomy
of a
confidence trickster... they could learn from it... Perhaps.. wishful
thinking!

Auntie
Psychiatry says:April
18th 2018

I
would love for this to happen. My hunch is that several eminent
professors are taking a look at my cartoons, but I never hear a peep
from them. However, there are signs that their state of denial and
resistance to change is starting to crack. They are coming under
massive pressure from the groundswell of anger from people harmed by
these drugs, and - at long last - journalists in the
mainstream
media are catching on. The piece about Antidepressant
Withdrawal by Benedict Carey and Robert Gebeloff in the New
York Times is an important moment, I think.

Bramble
says:April
28th
2018

I
like the cartoon. A couple of months ago Carmine
Pariante was saying antidepressants were "safe-and-effective" at SMC.
Now it is all over the media that some antidepressants may increase
risk of
dementia and where is he? Not amongst those commenting on SMC.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:April
28th 2018

I
think Pariante lives in a fucked-up world of his own. He appears to
have been given free rein to say to the media anything that comes into
his head at the time of asking. He is a great asset to Psychiatry in
this respect because he can tell a fat whopper with such conviction. Is
it possible that he himself believes his own screwed-up
version of
reality? I've never quite been able to work that out.

Michael
Ashman says:May
3rd
2018

Just
watched a video of Tony Maden stating that if he became mentally ill he
would take his medication. Dearie, dearie me...

Allow
me to paraphrase, Auntie....
"Maden
predicts that if he developed an illness which, by his own lights,
impacts on his ability to make rational decisions, he would still be
able to make rational decisions."
As Douglas Adams would have it "this is, of course, impossible."

Insert
conclusion about psychiatrists and their grasp of reality
here....................
Insert conclusion about psychiatrists and insight
here........................

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8th
March 2018

The Outsider Outsider

This
cartoon is a (reasonably) faithful rendition of my recent encounter
with the website www.schizophrenia.com

Some
time ago, I signed up to their forum: "Schizophrenia
Discussion Community for People Diagnosed, or who think they may have
Psychosis," but I had never actually plucked up the
courage to join in. It
is a very active forum, and over the past year I'd dipped in to read a
few threads. This provoked mixed emotions - sometimes I thought "this
place is not for me", other times I thought "I'd really like to get to
know these people."

In
February I decided to the plunge. I had something I wanted to share,
and so I carefully composed my first message...

"Hi,
I'm new here, but I have been reading the threads to get a feeling for
this forum. It seems like there is a lot of caring support amongst you
all - I can see why it is such an active forum.

I
will be up front and tell you straight off that I am antipsychiatry.
However, I hope you will give me a chance to tell you about a new
website that is now up and running which you might find really helpful.
It is not antipsychiatry, it has been developed with the aim of
connecting people like us in a way that goes beyond the usual websites
and forums. The community is just starting to form and grow - it is
exciting to be part of it and I hope you will take a look. The link
is... www.theinnercompass.org

Alongside
the main website, there is a support network for anyone thinking of
withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. You can learn about layperson taper
methods that reduce risk, and connect with others who have successfully
withdrawn, and those who are just starting their withdrawal journey. I
know that the very mention of coming off psych-drugs can arouse strong
reactions on this forum, but I am anxious to let you know about this in
case any of you want to join in.

Hope to see you there! Auntie
Psychiatry."

OK,
reading this again I realise that it sounds kind-of pushy. Maybe
advertising another site in my very first message wasn't a great idea,
but the replies soon started coming in: The curious "Do you take meds yourself?"
The hostile "Encouraging
people to come off their meds is very irresponsible!" The
friendly, "Tell us a
bit about yourself." I was happy to respond to
all of them, and started to do so, feeling pleased that my debut
message had not gone unnoticed. But then a puzzling message
appeared... "Uh-oh,
something tells me this
thread is going to be locked down..." and another post
simply listing a few @names.
Being naive about forums, I didn't realise
that someone had called in the moderators.

Before
I knew it, my initial post had disappeared for "moderation". I didn't
think much about this - it was my first post, so fair enough - I
thought it would reappear soon enough. The other posts in the thread
seemed to be staying up, so I continued posting replies. And then,
within an hour.... the entire thread disappeared! It was wiped out
totally - no message,
no placeholder - as though it had never existed!!

When
I tried to log back in, I received this message.

Yes,
that's right - Account suspended until 3018.

My
first reaction was to laugh in disbelief. A thousand years! Then I got
angry. What did they mean "Anti-psychiatry,
anti-medication postings"?? I hadn't actually said anything
anti-psychiatry or anti-medication.
Had I? And even if it could be interpreted that way, where in the
guidelines did it prohibit such discussions? I read them carefully, and
there was nothing about it.

And
so, I sent an e-mail to the administrator:

"I
hope you can help me. Yesterday I posted my first message to your forum
“for people who have schizophrenia”, under “Medications.” Several
people replied, but soon after that the whole thread disappeared, and
when I tried to log in I received the message that my account is
suspended for 1000 years for “anti-psychiatry and anti-medication
postings”. I would like to converse with the people on this forum, I
have carefully read the community guidelines and I don’t see how my
post breached them. Please could you re-instate my account? Username:
Auntie Psychiatry.
Many thanks for your time."

Judy
Gayton says:March
31st
2018Wow
Auntie. In this time of free speech law suits and interest in whose
controlling whose right to say what, this is a pretty bold move to
take. I'm sorry they refused to hear your important messages.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:March
31st 2018

Thanks
Judy. The reason I chose this subject for a cartoon (or rather, it
chose me) is because the feeling of being shut out and "silenced"
stayed with me for such a long time. It wouldn't be so bad if I had
some way to contact them, or if they contacted me, but it's very clear
that I have been comprehensively banished for 1000 years, and I am left
to guess why that might be. Certainly the Forum FAQdoesn't
give any clues - I didn't break any of the community guidelines.

My
main concern, though, is for other people who inadvertently fall foul
of these covert community rules. Not long after I was banned, a post
appeared on the forum by someone who seemed very upset because a
previous post of his vanished for no reason. He said he'd put a lot of
time and thought into that post, and he could not understand why the
moderators took exception to it. Next time I checked, that post too had
disappeared, and I am pretty sure the person who posted it has not been
seen since. Not such a friendly, supportive place after all.

Michael
Ashmansays:April
1st
2018Dear
Auntie, this whole affair has chilling and sinister overtones. Perhaps
you should take advice from Groucho Marx - "I wouldn't join any club
that would have me as a member".

On a more serious note, your
comments were responded to by some forum contributors, and one hopes
that they, at least, may now be tempted to look beyond that particular
forum to arenas where diversity of viewpoints is valued.

Stay cool and keep 'tooning!

Michael

Auntie
Psychiatry says:April
1st 2018

Ha!
Thanks for that - very true. Incidentally, my phone ringtone is Groucho
Marx singing "I'm against it" in the film "Horsefeathers."

I don't know
what they have to say.It makes no
difference anyway.Whatever it
is,I'm against
it!

About
the people on the forum: I console myself with the thought that if any
of them have any curiosity at all about finding a better way, all they
have to do is type a few key words into Google, and they will soon come
across websites such as Mad in America and Inner Compass Initiative. To
my eyes, the schizophrenia.com forum is a very strange place.
Every so often someone will say they are considering coming
off
their "meds", and others chime in to tell them how it will end very
badly, as it did for them, and always does for everyone. Then the
person ususally thinks better of it, and thanks the group for their
support.
It's as though they are all colluding with each other to make sure that
no-one strays from the straight and narrow. Many
of them complain vociferously and at length about how dreadful the
drugs make them feel, and how they wish they didn't have to take them,
but then say they know they have a brain disease and will always have
to take them.
I
understand their fear - there's a high chance they are risking
everything, and it's true that ditching the drugs often ends badly -
but it's frustrating to watch them struggle when I know how much is
possible.

Bernard
says:April
18th
2018May
the Gods of the Parthenon give us peace... I do hope I will not have to
be turning in my grave or from wherever to learn that these shrinks are
alive and well...or do I?

Bramblesays:April
28th 20181000
years. That is a bit harsh. I just had a quick look at their website
and E. Fuller Torrey is one of the people they thank. So you are
probably not missing much.

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28th April 2016 (UPDATE 31st
Dec 2017)

For Garth.

From
the other side of the world comes news of an act of such brutal
treatment at the hands of Psychiatry that I can only find one word for
it: Torture. Not even intervention by the UN Human Rights Council has
been able to help Garth. This blatant abuse of power shames the entire
profession... but where is the outcry
from lead Psychiatrists?

Bernard
says:December
31st
2017
This information is incorrect...on 19 May 2016...Garth escaped from the
hospital
after having lodged a writ in the Supreme Court on 26 April...Judge
Keogh of the court scheduled a hearing for 27 April 2016.
However, the treating psychiatrist contacted the court informing the
judge that Garth
was too ill to attend court.
Garth ended up in Queensland.
But after more than 100 electroShocks coupled with anesthetics and the
truama was found by police to be in a state of confusion and
subsequently ended up in hospital at the Royal Brisbane...where he was
treated with clozapine and suffered cardiac problems and transferred to
The Prince Charles Hospital where he remains incarcerated in isolation.

Bernard - Thank
you so much for getting in touch, and for the link to the 'Free Garth'
website. I'm lost for words, my heart goes out to Garth. Looking
through the website, I found the photographs from Garth's Album, and
they really speak to me, especially the one called "Light". He is a
talented artist, and I would love to know more about his work and what
fires his imagination.

Boans
says:September
8th
2018
Thanks for the link to the story about
Garth Daniels Auntie. I missed this when it was shown and have wondered
about where he was at.
Dr Katz might make a purrrrrfect patient for Dr Lecter someday.
Love your work and am just making my way through some of it.

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9th November 2017

Science Media Centre: A lesson in
Spellcasting

There
is a very, very long background story to this cartoon. I will
try
my best to be brief, but please do bear wtih
me. First of
all, let me translate the Latin Spell.

ARGUMENTUM
AD VERECUNDIAM: Argument from authority (or appeal to
authority) -
where something is purported to be true, simply because a knowledgeable
and well-reputed person has said it.

So,
the Newsweek journalist had sourced Pariante’s quote from the SMC
website.

I’d
heard a lot about this UK based Registered Charity, none of it good,
but I wanted to know more. A little rooting around their website put me
in the picture.

“When
science hits the news agenda, it’s our job to pass on to journalists as
much accurate information as we can, as quickly as possible. In order
to do this we send out quotes from experts…”

Experts?
Tell me more…

“The
quality of our experts is important to us. The SMC recruits scientists,
engineers and others who work for respected institutions, publish in
peer-reviewed journals and have a track record of quality research in
their specialist field.”

Uh-huh.
And what is your mission?

OUR
MISSION: “To provide, for the benefit of the public and policymakers,
accurate and evidence-based information about science and engineering
through the media, particularly on controversial and headline news
stories when most confusion and misinformation occurs.”

Indeed.

Now,
I was pretty certain that Pariante’s words were neither accurate nor
evidence based, but the SMC press release provided no references to
back up his bold and startling claim. So, my first port of call was
Prof Pariante himself. I sent an e-mail asking him to point me at the
evidence. In reply, he sent me a link to this paper:

Gibbons
et al 2007. I know this paper. It is notorious amongst many leading
academics and doctors in the field. In the words of Consultant
Psychiatrist Sami Timimi: “To
describe this as ‘junk science’ would be an insult to junk science.”

And
he’s right. Check it out for yourself, you’ll see.

Incredulous,
I e-mailed Pariante back…
“Gibbons et al? Seriously?”
No response. And so, I turned my attention to the SMC. How would this
Registered Charity with a mission to provide “accurate and evidence
based information about science” respond to being challenged?

My
first step was to track down the SMC Complaints Procedure. After
searching the website in vain, I put in a polite request for it by
e-mail. No reply. I tried again. Still no reply. I phoned the contact
number.

“Are
you the person who e-mailed about this?”

“Yes,
that’s me.”

“Well,
we don’t actually have a Complaints Procedure, but we’re discussing
your request, and will e-mail you soon.”

Sure
enough, later that day I received an e-mail – a very helpful e-mail.

“We
would be happy to receive your complaint, review it internally and pass
it onto the Trustees if appropriate.”

Encouraged,
I diligently gathered together the evidence, put it to them, and firmly
stated my case:

“The Science Media Centre bills
itself as a reputable and reliable source for journalists [...] Journalists
and the public rightfully expect to trust and rely on the information
issued by the SMC. The assertion made by Prof. Carmine Pariante, and
endorsed by the SMC, is misleading and without foundation.

Desired outcome: An
appropriate response would be for the SMC to issue a public
‘corrections and clarifications’ notice (similar to those issued by
editors of mainstream newspapers) on the SMC website.”

Three
weeks later, I received this response from a Senior Press Manager.

“Thank
you for your email on this contentious issue. We have considered your
complaint closely and there are a few points for me to
address.

First,
we are not scientific experts and so do not endorse comments. This is
evident in our work as we rely on and issue the views of individual
scientists and, as disagreements between scientists often occur, we
frequently issue sets of comments containing differing views.
Second,
if a scientist feels they have made a factual error in a statement then
we are happy to make amendments on our website, and have done so
previously. We have not been alerted to such a concern on this occasion.

Third,
if other scientists inform us that an expert has made an error, or
appears to have missed key evidence, then we may decide to speak to the
expert involved to discuss their response. As part of our routine work
we have sent Prof Pariante’s comments to many experts across the UK and
none have raised any concerns, indeed the only responses I have
received have been supportive.

In result, we will not be taking
any action in response to your complaint.”

Bravo!
A masterful piece of institutional flimflam, neatly sidestepping all
the evidence I had so carefully presented, and wilfully failing to
address my central point that Pariante’s statement is misleading and
without foundation.

Undeterred,
I pressed on. Next step, a letter to the Board of Trustees. This time,
I gathered additional evidence from specialists with recognised
expertise in this area, and took a different tack to re-state my case.

“The Science Media Centre is an
independent charity with the purpose of boosting public trust in
science [...] In the event that
information
circulated by the SMC is challenged by experts as being neither
accurate nor evidence-based, it is the responsibility of the
organisation to conduct a full and open investigation into the
complaint.

Desired outcome:
For the SMC to withdraw the above statement made by Prof Pariante, and
issue a public ‘corrections and clarifications’ notice on its website
to inform journalists and the public of the withdrawal.”

The response was a long time coming. Worth the wait? Well, see for
yourself:

“My
name is Jonathan Baker and I am chair of the Trustees of the Science
Media Centre.
At
our autumn meeting on October 20, the Trustees considered the complaint
you made about an SMC roundup relating to a BBC programme about
anti-depressants. Because you were not satisfied with the initial
response you received, your complaint was referred to the Trustees for
discussion and resolution.

Whenever
there is a contentious or new science-related issue in the public
debate, or about to enter it, the SMC circulates the details to as many
experts in the field as it can to solicit their responses and opinions.
Those responses are then collated and circulated to journalists to help
them understand and/or cover the story. This element of the SMC's work
is described on the website: "One of the other ways the SMC ensures
that the media have easy access to scientists and their views is by
offering journalists a variety of comments from scientists reacting to
the latest research."

A
roundup is no more or less than that. Inclusion of a quote from a
scientist does not imply any form of endorsement by the SMC. From your
complaint, it appears your (sic) believe that it does, or should. But
the roundup is based on the fundamental conviction that it is the
scientists who are the experts, not the
SMC.

In
this context, the Trustees wanted to know the answers to three
questions before deciding whether or not the SMC was at fault in this
case.

Was
Professor Pariante a qualified and credible person to express an
opinion on this issue? We believe that he was.

Were
his views accurately reported by the SMC? We believe that they were.

Were
his views requested on their own, or as one contribution among many
from scientists with relevant expertise and credentials? In
keeping with the nature of roundups, as set out above, Professor
Pariante’s response was one of several received and included in the
roundup. Given all of this, the view of the Trustees is that the
proper, indeed standard procedure was followed in this case, and no
further action is required.”

And
with that, I yield. Game over.
ARGUMENTUM AD VERECUNDIAM.

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Bob Fiddamansays:November
22nd
2017
This is quite superb. Great cartoon and fascinating correspondence.

It
appears the SMC is just like the British drug regulator, the MHRA, in
as much that they refuse to acknowledge when they are wrong, thus
putting many lives at risk.

Excellent article!

Auntie Psychiatry says:So
glad that you get it and you like it! That means a lot to me. I'm not
kidding myself that it will make any difference at all, but maybe it
will reach a few intelligent journalists and get them thinking...

Great
cartoon, and you hit the nail on the head- Carmine is not so much
concerned with objective truth (or any other kind of truth) about
anti-depressants - he is more all about the spin...

The SMC
is a front group for various vested interests... none of them 'patient
interests' I might add..

Great
blog.. will be reading more :)

Auntie Psychiatry
says:I
genuinely don't know what to make of Carmine Pariante - he has got away
with spreading "unfounded poppycock" in the media about
antidepressants, and yet his reasearch into the link between
inflammation and "depression" is genuinely interesting. He has been
kind enough to send me links to his papers which I really appreciated.
Don't suppose he'll be communicating with me any more... which is a
shame. I wonder if in his own mind he believes the glib statements he
makes about antidepressants, or whether it really is deliberate spin
(as you suggest)? I just don't know.

truthman
says:November
22nd
2017
I don't know for sure about Carmine, however I think when someone is
highly invested in an ideology and belief system (which is what
psychiatry is) then they will often be economical with the truth (and
sometimes their own moral-code or integrity) when they seek to defend
that ideology which means so much to them...

Auntie Psychiatry
says:Yes,
you're right. And now this rotten ideology is spreading to all of
us thanks to the SMC circulating these falsehoods via the
mainstream media. How do we persuade journalists to open their eyes,
start asking questions and challenge?

Michael
Ashman says:November
27th
2017

Nice
to see you back at your drawing board following publication of your
excellent book - which made both myself and my partner laugh and cry in
equal measures.

And thanks for drawing attention to yet more
evidence of how pervasively poor science backed by wizardly PR is
leading society to accept medicine as the only authority on mental
health.

Here's a thought: in its submission to Parliament on the
Mental Health Act 1983 revisions a decade or so ago, RCPsych described
itself as the leading authority on medical aspects of mental health in
the UK and ROI.

So, leader in a field of one. Wow.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:

Michael - thank you so much! You hit the nail on the head with "pervasively poor science backed
with wizardly PR."
Such intelligent people with so many years of science training all
resolutely refusing to take a look at what's right in front of their
noses. What is that about?

Zoe says:February
3rd
2018
Hmm.
Kind of a reverse Ad Hominem "argument." Terminal degrees and
intelligence are worthless if the source lies repeatedly. They'll only
use their intellect and professional knowledge to make the lies appear
more credible.

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An absolute MUST
READ!!!!! I read it from cover to cover...laughing tongue in cheek...so
accurate and hillariously funny were the message not seriously true.
Leaves one wondering how could we as individuals let this happen?

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5th October 2016

Exploring Anosogonsia

The
notion of 'lack of insight' in Psychiatry is not new, but it has
received a turbo-boost in recent years, largely due to the efforts of
Dr E Fuller Torrey and the Treatment
Advocacy Center (TAC). Co-opting the Greek word
'Anosognosia' from the field of Neurology lends it an air of scientific
credibility, backed up by impressive claims of "anatomical
damage to the brain" in those affected. The TAC website is emphatic in
its insistence that Anosognosia is not simply Denial of Illness
because it has a "biological basis and is caused by damage to the
brain. "

From
blogs and news reports to the recent rhetoric of Rep. Tim Murphy, the
Anosognosia meme is spreading fast, along with spurious statistics
(Anosognosia afflicts 50% schizophrenia patients, 40% bipolar) and the
TAC claim that it is the "most common reason why [patients] do not take
medication."

For
critical analysis and an entertaining take on this issue, join
Marcellas and Daniel at... www.anosognosiac.com

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Pamela Wagner
says:October
26th
2016
Hi, Auntie, i love love love your
cartoons, but this one has me stumped. And i kid you not. Could you
please elucidate it for me? I mean, i get the notion of anosognosia,
that you can't win with someone labeling you on that basis, but in the
drawing i don't quite get the details. Why is the person being measured
in height? Is it just the idea of measurement? Am i missing something
here? And is this meant to say that literally anyone could put their
face in that "facehole" and fit the diagnosis well enough for the
doctor? Or am i just dense? I hope these questions do not offend, as i
hate it when I do not get a joke, but it is so much worse when you cant
even ask what made the joke funny to other people! Thanks so much for
any explanation, and please forgive me?

Auntie
Psychiatry says:October
26th
2016

Dear
Pamela - Of course you aren't dense! In fact, I'm very pleased to have
some feedback about this one. Most of my cartoons are open to
interpretation, but this one, I realise, is more baffling than
most. Anosognosia proved to be a very difficult subject to pin
down. I struggled for many months to find an angle - none of the ideas
I came up with felt satisfactory. Here's how it eventually
developed.

Anosogonosia = Lack of insight. According to
Psychiatry, this is not just 'denial', it is the result of actual brain
damage. From the Psychiatrist's point of view, patients with
Anosognosia are extremely 'unwell' because they are unable to
comprehend that they are ill and need 'treatment'. From the patient's
point of view, there is no way to argue against this - the more he
argues, the more 'ill' he appears in the eyes of the shrink. His only
option is to feign acceptance and hope for the best - it is a bit like
a wrongly convicted prisoner who has to admit he is guilty in order to
get parole.

And so to the cartoon. The patient is acutely
aware that he must convince the doctor that he is 'ill'. The poster
behind him spells out the consequences if he fails to do so. The
patient doesn't really believe he is ill, so he cowers behind a fašade,
displaying to the doctor that he is in full agreement, yes siree! The
fašade is represented by one of those photo cutout boards you get at
the seaside. They are usually fun, but this one is based on a mugshot
of a
prisoner, which is how the patient feels in that room.

After a
lot of thought, I added the caption "A shared moment of insight." The
doctor is clearly thinking something too, but I'm afraid I don't know
quite what that might be.

Marcellas says:November
14th
2016Brilliant
(and spot on). Anosognosia is a reciprocating, self reinforcing double
bind. What should be terrifying to the public is how easy it is to get
a label and impossible it is to disprove the label, once applied.

At
the moment the public takes comfort in faith of a diagnosis, and
treatment that at least dosen't make things worse. I'm sure the women
executed for witchcraft in Salem had the same faith, up until the time
they were accused.

Bramble says:January
18th
2017

I love your
cartoons!

Auntie
Psychiatry says:January
18th 2017

Dear
Bramble - That's music to my ears! Thank you so much for dropping by.

Survivor says:February
24th
2017

Here's the real reason people aren't med-compliant: they make you sick
and miserable and screw up your thinking.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:February
24th 2017

Too
right. That's why I stopped taking Haldol in the 90s, and stayed the
hell away from psychiatrists ever since. The push by the Treatment
Advocacy Center to spread the Anosognosia meme is a very worrying
development. Here's the message they are getting out there:

"Approximately
50% of individuals with schizophrenia and 40% of individuals with
bipolar disorder are estimated to have co-occurring anosognosia.It
is reported to be the most common reason why individuals with
schizophrenia refuse to take medication; since they do not believe that
there is anything wrong with them, why should they?"
[emphaisis added]

And here's their
'obvious solution'...

"An
obvious solution to the nonadherence problem is to switch the
individual from oral medication to long-acting injectable preparations"

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9th August 2016

The Murphy Bill: Who is pulling
Murphy's string?

While
researching this cartoon, I listened to rather a lot of Rep. Murphy's
speeches - his rhetoric is very compelling.

It's
hard to argue with Murphy's claim that "The mental health system is
broken" - not only for patients and families, but also for all those
caring people lured into pursuing a career in "Mental Health", and for
society in general. Murphy's solution? Add more
balls.

Murphy is not averse to drawing from dramatic reports in the press and
social media to make his case. In this speech (at
13 minutes),
he reveals with a flourish a blown-up photo of 'Man in tree', Cody Lee
Miller, being led into court in shackles to appear before a judge. It
is an image disturbingly reminiscent of Jesus being brought before
Pontius Pilot. Murphy sees this case as an object lesson in the
importance of 'treatment before tragedy'.

Looking at that
photo of Cody Lee Miller, I could think of many things that might help
him - a bath, a safe bed, clean clothes, home cooked food, human warmth
- but coercive flooding of his system with neurotoxic drugs wasn't one
of them.

The Murphy Bill is a real blow to
actual mental health reform. There are so many aspects of it that are
too sad to laugh at. Like the way Murphy offers examples of mass
shooters who were in "treatment" when they acted, yet had no history of
volience prior to treatment. Or like the overwelming bipartisan support
the bill got, which is unheard of in the US these days. Or how the bill
specifically prevents funding for "anti psychiatry", AKA people who are
actually interested in facts. We discuss the murphy bill on episode 11
of our podcast, anosognosiac, which can be found on iTunes.

Auntie
Psychiatry says: August
24th
2016

Thanks
Marcellas. Yes, I'm finding the tone of the debate pretty alarming,
even from this side of the Atlantic. It coincides with a ramping up of
media interest in the 'treatment of mental health problems' in the UK -
the rhetoric is making me very nervous.

BTW, I'm a big fan of your podcasts and recommend them heartily! Here's
the link: www.anosognosiac.com

Snow
says:September
9th
2016

"Imagine
an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many
people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you
know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of
death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers,
making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do
you think you are doing them a good turn?"

-Lu Hsun

I found many people in the anti-psy community
share a same feature, they don't love human overall.

Many people just to be SSRI junkies to dead in
this miserable
world, the greatest happiness they could achieve, we even make
fun of it. I don't care them though.

They want to being junkies, not need to care
their reputation.

But, why some person " cry aloud to wake a few
of the lighter sleepers"?

Because they feel lonely.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:
September 9th
2016

Dear
Snow- Thank you so much for this comment - I will be thinking about it
all day. When I read the bit you wrote about anti-psy not loving humans
overall, it reminded me of this poem...
I wish I loved the Human Race...

I wish I
loved the Human Race; I wish I
loved its silly face; I wish I
liked the way it walks;I wish I
liked the way it talks;And when I'm
introduced to one,I wish I
thought "What Jolly Fun!"

The bipartisan support is due to the fact that
elected officials never read anything longer than a bumper sticker. And
they were offered free money from Big Pharma. And they could come off
as nice guys since locking up/drugging the SMI doesn't hurt them (not
real people anyhow) and only "mentally ill" folks commit violent
crimes.

Auntie Psychiatry says:August 3rd
2018

Yes, I heard about that. I like to think I captured the evil glint in
Murphy's eyes...

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I'd
love to take credit for the RC Psychic gibe, but in truth it was a gift
from the Royal College of Psychiatrists: #RCPsychic

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Snow says:June
16th
2016

I like the ADHD
card design. It seems the only brightness in this dark
background(/world).

Auntie
Psychiatry says:June
16th
2016

Thanks
Snow. I see it that way too.

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8th
April 2016

Psy the Snake's Student
Worksheet: Let Wisdom Guide

This
cartoon picks up on the advice and information presented to patients
and carers in leaflets published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
According to the RCPsych website, "each leaflet/factsheet reflects the
best evidence base at the time of writing."

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14th March 2016

Sir Simon
Wessely: Defender of the Faith

This
cartoon is inspired by the Royal College of Psychiatrists anti-BASH
campaign. BASH is an acronym: Badmouthing,
Attitudes and Stigmatisation in Healthcare. Professor Sir
Simon Wessely is leading the charge. He reveals his disquiet about the
'stigmatisation' of his profession in his President's
Blog...
"stigma surrounding psychiatry doesn't begin and end with the
experiences of patients; doctors too experience stigmatisation - for
deciding to become psychiatrists."

Many
thanks to Philip Hickey for his highly entertaining analysis of this
issue: Psychiatry
Bashing.

Incidentally,
when trying to think up a joke brand name for the ECT machine in the
cupboard, I looked to the names of real ECT machines for inspiration.
The first one I found was the Siemens
Konvulsator. Yes, even spelled with a K. Satirising
psychiatry is SO EASY!!

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Snow says:March
15th
2016I
see a tendency that people more and more love to label people have
mental problems.

Not
just because the industry want money. It's because most people are
insecure.

It's
like labelling someone is a witch in dark age. A lot of animals have
the instinct start to attack their own species when they feel in a
insecure environment.

Anyway, if
a Psychiatrist keeping to make diagnoses everyday for work (money), it
must be a huge effect for themselves, it's a kind of brainwashing for
themselves.

I
am interested how this could impact them.

I
suppose it would be like this :

First,
they must think "Haha, money is very easy to earn! This job is
great for earn $$."(LOL, it won't be such easy)

Little
by little, since they keeping to make diagnoses, their understanding
for people would be far different with normal people, it's something
like occupational injury. (I often use the word "something like"
because the industry have no words to describe them) They would feel
everyone have mental problems, and started to have trust problems.

By
the way, it's a symptom of schizophrenia that they have far different
belief system than most people.

Since
their trust problem,they don't tell people about themselves, it's a
quite obvious feature of this industry workers.

Many
newbie idiots in industry do have a little bit faith of "I do
this job is helping people", but after they know those drugs
can't help actually, they lose the faith and grudge.

The
trust problem can't easy to fix up in this age, them started to hate
and drug their patients to revenge. Few of them who don't lack of
money (they are quite rare in nowadays) will quit the job, but people
with antisocial personality disorder would like the job.

There
is no way going back, finally, their mind would far more twisted than
drug selling street gangsters.

By
the way, I know you are here and reading this, Psychiatrist, you
deserve it.

Auntie
P, there must be some "fans" of this blog are
Psychiatrists. LOL

Mark
says:March
17th
2016“When
a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh
at him..”― Thomas
Szasz.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:March
17th
2016

Thanks
Mark. I like that.

RachelE
says:April
8th
2016

After the way they stigmatized us with their "scientific diagnoses" I'm
glad they get a small share of it too. Plenty of stigma to go around! :D

Auntie
Psychiatry says:April
9th
2016

Cheers, Rachel! Good point.

Professor
Sir Simon
genuinely believes that medics who say that "Psychiatry is
Pseudoscience" are
guilty of 'badmouthing' his profession. No thoughts about whether there
is any
validity to the criticism, just a knee-jerk cry of 'stigma.'

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17th February 2016

Auntie Psychiatry's Buzzword
Bingo: Schizophrenia Gene Discovery

Don't
get me wrong - I'm very keen to learn about the latest
scientific findings on the 'Genetics of Mental Illness'. Does
schizophrenia really have a 'significant genetic component' as is so
often claimed? The hunt is on.

But I have yet to find a satisfying report on the subject. Light on
substance, brimming with froth, each one containing the same essential
ingredients : Breakthrough
discovery, New insights, Step towards a real diagnostic test, Hope for
new drug treatments.

So...
are scientists on the brink of a bright new dawn? It's kind
of hard to tell.

Anybody
would think that what really
matters is the pizzazz.

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4th February 2016

Auntie Psychiatry plays with
Google Autocomplete

You can play too.

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Jay Geesays:April
29th
2016Since
by law, one can not garner informed consent by misinformation or fraud,
psychiatry, the DSM, the chemical imbalance theory- it is all fraud- a
crime against humanity perpetrated by quacks and criminals.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:April
29th
2016Cheers, Jay
Gee. That's a good point. The concept of 'informed consent' in
psychiatry is ludicrous.

John
says:January 16th 2017

I just tried this. It goes:
fake
a sham
not science
bullshit

Not bad.....

Auntie
Psychiatry says:Cheers,
John. Not bad at all.

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13th January 2016

Auntie Psychiatry: Shill Doc
MIllionaire

This
cartoon required a lot of background reading and study. I wanted to be
as certain as possible about the validity of the phrase "Long-term
drugging with antipsychotics causes brain shrinkage." My starting point
was The
Bitterest Pills by Joanna
Moncrieff, a lead Psychiatrist based in the UK. From this
I tracked down several research papers and journal articles on the
subject. In the end, I reached the conclusion that all the
evidence points in the same direction: Antipsychotic drugs are
Neurotoxic. That said, I can't help but admire the heroic strides by
some experts in the field to torture the evidence into giving
them The Right Answer: Antipsychotics are Neuroprotective.

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Marcellassays:January
23rd
2016Nancy Andreason came up with
the most
conclusive evidence, much to her horror, when she set out to
demonstrate that the drugs protected the brain against the effects of a
disease. What she discovered was that the drugs, not the disease,
caused the damage she was studying. She also admitted that the damage
is dose related and not evidenced even by street drugs!

Auntie Psychiatry says:January 25th
2016
Yes, Professor Andreasen's word carries a lot of
weight, so this was big news. She even went
so far as to say that she found the results “very upsetting” and “we
must get the word out that antipsychotics should be used
with great care.”

Brave of her to stray
from the fold like that, but they soon hauled her back. She's safely
one of the flock again, obediently toeing the party line.

Auntie Psychiatry says:January
28th 2016Thanks, Bippyone.
You've
touched upon a very difficult topic.
My own experience of psychosis was terrifying, and if I ever got close
to a full psychotic break again I'd almost certainly take
antipsychotics in a heartbeat. But we need to understand the risks, and
twisting the evidence to hide unpalatable study results is a shady
business.

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10th December 2015

Microchip
Meds: Abilify with built-in RFID sensor

This
is no joke. In a joint project, Proteus Digital Health and Otsuka
Pharmaceuticals are poised to launch the first ever digital pill with
embedded ingestible sensor. No surprise that Big Pharma has chosen
blockbuster Psych-med Abilify to kick off the smart pill revolution -
it is already being touted as a leap forward in ensuring that
psychiatric patients "adhere to treatment regimens".

Marcellassays:January
6th
2016This
has particularly insidious implications in the US if Sen Murphy has his
way. forced drugging and suspension of rights. As far as I can tell
there is no evidence that treatment actually works, or reduces
violence, or prevents suicide, or reduces disability. Im still laughing
but its really not funny anymore. Its too sad and too outrageous

Auntie Psychiatry says:Sad and
outrageous? You
bet. Coercive
drugging with neurotoxins is inhumane.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:
Welcome,
Snow! That is good news. I do hope you are right.

Hexagon says:September
25th
2016

Hacker
here, if someone can get me one of these things I can get to work on it
and post instructions on how to spoof "compliance."

Auntie
Psychiatry says:
Cool!
If this abomination ever reaches the market, we will need your
services. As I understand it, the FDA has
rejectedthe
first application, but I'm pretty sure we haven't heard the last of
it....

Closet Non-Compliant says:September
27th
2016

Funny! We're supposed to be crazy and
out-of-touch with reality, but we're coming up with clever ways to
outwit those who vilify us and say we have "broken brains." People who
act that way deserve to be lied to!

Auntie
Psychiatry says:
"Recovery begins with
non-compliance!"
Those words turned my life around 21 years ago when I found
anti-psychiatry activists on the nascent internet. As true today as
ever.

Don says:August
7th
2017

...How
about lithium in our drinking water? It's an idea I heard. But some say
it's already there from chemtrails and/or the excretions of those
taking the drug.

Bill says:September
6th 2018

I
can attest to this, thanks to the "Dollars For Docs" database on
"Propublica" In 2014/15, Otsuka Pharma paid Dr. Shawn Shea, a local
psychiatrist, over $10,000., in 4 payments, as a "consultant". Dr. Shea
wrote a book, which basically tells how to get teenagers to admit
they're suicidal. It's called "Eliciting Suicidal Ideation....,
(something or other)"..., ah, crap, I forget the title. You can find it
on Amazon. I've forgotten it, because it's so **SICK** and twisted. But
yeah, those RFID-chipped Abilify ARE on the market. BRAVE NEW WORLD
ORDER, here we come, ready or not! (I know Dr. Shea personally. In one
sense, he's ok, nice enough, polite, etc., but he's also nutty as a
fruitcake. And a medical fascist, to boot....)....

Auntie
Psychiatry says:
Ah
yes. "The Practical Art of Suicide Assessment" by Shawn Christopher
Shea. Also this chilling little number... "Improving Medication
Adherence: How to Talk with Patients About Their Medications."

And here's the latest on the rollout of the Abilify microchip
abomination from mobihealth
news...
30th August 2018"the
treatment will come at the cost of $1,650 per month and likely be
deployed to Medicaid members living in Florida and Virginia, among
other regions."

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23rd November 2015

Dr. Pies stays positive.

I've
long been a fan of The
Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, and the
definition of 'positive' is one of my favourites. We've all been
'positive' from time to time - be honest - but none so loudly, or
publicly or repeatedly as Ronald W. Pies MD. Despite a mountain of
evidence to the contrary, Dr Pies remains adamant that psychiatry never
bought into the "chemical imbalance theory" of mental illness,
and continues to claim that his profession does not and hasn't ever
promoted it to the public. Quite why he is determined to stay so
'positive' is a mystery to me.

Marcellassays:January
6th
2016
Amazing how many professional continue to promote the "theory",
apparently they didnt get Pies memo.

Don says:August
7th
2017Is
it a coincidence that Prozac first entered the marketplace when Ronald
Regan became president of the US? His introduction of neoliberalism
caused many to lose their jobs. Anyone would be depressed under those
circumstances-- a "normal" reaction.

Rachel777 says:July
9th
2018So...when
is Dr. Pies going to show up on MSNBC or CBS or C-Span or FOX and say,
"I wish to inform the public that we are not the ignorant quacks you
take us for. We were merely promoting a harmless metaphor to ensure
drug compliance. Thereby--conveniently--upholding our own prestige as
legitimate medical experts and getting the occasional fruit basket or
trip to the Bahamas from pharmaceutical companies"?
That will be the day.

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5th November 2015

Auntie Psychiatry Turns the Tables

This
cartoon features Psychiatry Psnakes at the meds trolley "tonguing and
spitting out the bitter pill
of reality", as described by Daniel Kriegman in his post Physician,
Heal Thyself. Dan is optimisitic that "in
the end they will have to swallow the bitter pill and face
reality."

Here's
hoping.

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ArthurEllis says:November
21st
2015
Your website is fabtastic. When my humour goes, I tend to go. Godbless
all who sail in your mind.

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9th October 2015

Auntie Psychiatry asks "What's
with the new American Psychiatric Association logo?"

This
spoof "Snakes on a Plane" movie poster was inspired by Phil Hickey's
blog post The
APA's New Image. I had a great time creating it, especially
when I discovered Samuel L Jackson's classic line... "Enough is enough! I've had it
with these m@#!F%'& snakes on this m@#!F%'& plane!"

This
is a fictitious (yet scarily plausible) exam paper for Rigging Clinical Trials: Level 1.
The inspiration was prompted by publicity of an actual
clinical trial. The
company's website encourages people to Explore
the Study Design. Looking
at the cartoon now, I realise that it appears as though ALL the placebo
group fall prey to the sharks, and ALL of the drug group stay high and
dry. In fact, there were patients in the placebo group who did not
relapse into psychosis, and patients in the drug group who did. I’m not
quite sure how to portray that in a simple cartoon though. Any ideas?

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12th
August 2015

Riding High Upon a Deep Depression

The
Upside of Melancholia: Yet another thing that Psychiatry won't
acknowledge. Society used
to get it... before Big Pharma muscled in, cleverly marketing
depression as a brain disease and pushing their drugs in earnest.

Weirdly, "melancholia" is
creeping back as an acceptable medical term. Previously shunned as an
antiquated throwback to the days of Victorian Lunatic Asylums, it seems
that Psychiatry has done a U-turn
and decided it's a valid diagnosis after all. Does anybody know why?

Go
on, play it now... and crank up the volume. Knocks spots off Seroxat.

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Bramble says:January
18th
2017

I don't either know
why melancholia is making
a comeback but Max Fink has something to do with it. I remember seeing
a picture called Melancholia in an Edinburgh gallery or museum. It was
by Cranach and didn't look too miserable - at least there was a glass
of wine in the picture.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:January 18th
2017
Max Fink - the ECT guy? Is he still on the scene?

I hadn't heard of the painting you mentioned, so I did a Google search
and found this really interesting piece about it, In
praise of Melancholy by Alison Anderson. Thanks for the steer!

Bramble says:January
25th
2017That's
the one. 94 and still going strong. Published a letter about
mitochondria in the Journal of the American Medical Association a few
months ago.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:January
26th
2017Aha! One of those
relics from a bygone age who should've retired long since but just
can't seem to let it go. Fuller Torreyis another - still causing a lot of
damage at the age of 79.

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3rd
August 2015

Psychiatry's only tool

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17th
July 2015

Let Wisdom Guide

Let
Wisdom Guide is the motto of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The
snake/serpent is their symbol of wisdom and health.

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5th
July 2015

Auntie Psychiatry: Crazy Talk

A small
selection of the colourful words and phrases we all use from time to
time. I love them; partly because they are so alive and vivid, but
mostly because they bridge the scary gap between sanity and madness.
Everyone can relate to being "a bit bonkers" or "away with the fairies"
- these peppy colloquialisms are a great leveller.

Why is our
language so rich with these lively expressions? My guess is that it's
because they portray mental states we are fascinated by - scary, yes,
but also mystical, alluring, exhilarating.

Contrast this with
the deadening language of Psychiatry. Worried about the offence that
might be caused by these casual expressions, the anti-stigma charity Time for Change
provides a helpful Mental
Health Language Guide to put us all straight. So instead ofusing words like mad, lunatic or unhinged, they
suggest "a person with a mental health problem" or "someone who has a
diagnosis of schizophrenia."

Yeah, whatever.

A
final thought: I bet you can add a dozen more phrases for madness to my
list... but how many everyday expressions do you know for diabetes?

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Aid says:July
7th
2015

Love the pictures you
should make t shirts.
Insulin intolerance aside,
I dund.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:July
8th
2015
Cheers Aid!
I don't know any alt words
for diabetes off the top of my head either. A quick Google search
uncovered a few, including the Dictionary
of Diabetes Slang. But unlike the language of madness, this
is a language that only people in the know about diabetes would use or
understand.

Mark C. says:July
17th
2015

Do anteaters get diabetes? i think ants are good healthy protein.

Auntie Psychiatry says:July
18th 2015

Mark,We're fine, as
long as
we stay off the Honey Ants. Of course, I never touch 'em. Ahem!

Bill says:July
28th
2016

My current fav is "cray-cray"....It's a Comedy central staple....(Hello from >madinamerica.com<!....~B./

I myself love the straight up call it like it is madness words, crazy, bonkers, weirdo, bizarro etcetera. What i cannot stand and take yuuuge umbrage at is being called mentally ill, and this despite my having written a quite popular memoir with the word "schizophrenia" in the subtitle! Truth is, the editors at St Martins Press chose both the title and subtitle, and the doctors long ago chose the label i have labored under and most recently to rid myself of...but in truth as well, i secretly never once believed a word of it. Yes, i assented to take their meds sometimes, because i wanted to FEEL better, i wanted to believe what they told me! But all along, even or especially when tortured and brutalized into complying, i did not believe a single thing...and i think the idea of biological mental illness and all that crap is plain crap from 1984 and gives me the willies!!! Call me mad or crazy but do not ever say i am mentally ill!!!

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27th
June 2015

Auntie Psychiatry receives the
right prescription.

This
might seem an odd cartoon for an anti psychiatry blog, but it
represents my own recent experience of NHS mental health
services.
I received nothing but the best care at a time when I really needed it.
What more can I say?

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Imogen says:January
14th
2016

Yeah,
flag up that they can get it right, as a reproach at all other times.

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This
is such an apt capture of how deeply we are being manipulated by
willingly lining up at CVS for the agents of the control and limiting
of our minds potential. The harm that their residues will have on
humans and biosystems for centuries to come, with the mandatory use and
manufactured demand for them growing daily.

psychotropic Drugs,
while
sometimes helpful remain a source of mental
anguish for most, with side effects that harm the body and shorten
lives. Why are we doing this to ourselves? I love your work.

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4th
June 2015

"Which
Way?" captures the allure of
extreme inner states that can lead to psychosis. Of course it is a
foolish and dangerous path to take, as anyone who has ever experienced
full blown psychosis knows to their bitter cost... and yet, and yet.

Sadly,
psychiatry strictly disapproves of exploration, and the "illness like
any other" approach leaves absolutely no room for discovering spiritual
meaning or fulfillment in these profound experiences. Flirting with the
Danger Zone is interpreted as "lack of insight" into your illness and
noted down as yet another symptom of an underlying brain disease.

Makes
me feel kind of sorry for them.

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Bernie
says:June
16th
2015

I can
see your point but you seem to be approaching a contradiction to your
previous advice about getting out (--i.e. do whatever you can to stay
out of the snakes and ladders game)

Auntie Psychiatry says:June 23rd
2015

Bernie - Just
after posting "Which Way?" I read the autobiography of neurologist
Oliver Sacks in which he describes his brother Michael's lifelong
struggle with schizophrenia. Here's a summary:

"Michael
felt the psychosis had opened his eyes to things he had never
previously thought about. On medication he lost the sharpness and
clarity with which he had perceived the world; everything seemed
muffled - 'it's like being softly killed' he concluded. He called the
non-schizophrenic world 'Rottenly Normal' - great rage was embodied in
this incisive phrase."

It
sounds to me that Michael spent his life bouncing between the
soul-numbing 'rottenly normal' world and the soul-shredding terror of
schizophrenic overwhelm.

Psychiatry
is a branch of medicine - it won't acknowledge spiritual crisis, it
only sees brain disease. The Snakes and Ladders game shows the
absurdities of a system that does not recognise these profound
upheavals of the soul. A Psych ward is no place for anyone with a
deep-seated need to make sense of their experiences.

You
may well be right about the contradiction - this blog is full of them,
and will become more so with time. Please do keep pointing them out.

Ben says:November
15th 2015

Great cartoon.
Because
psychosis is so frightening to people who witness it, they assume that
the person in the altered state of consciousness must be distressed all
the time too. This is simply not the case. The allure of these states,
especially when compared to the colourless nightmare of antipsychotic
intoxication, is very real. What is needed though is a balance, as
neither extreme is sustainable in the long term if a person is to be
functional and independent. The use of mind altering neuroleptic
medication does not allow a balanced state of consciousness to be
established.

This ties in really
well
with the snakes and ladders cartoon, the paradox of "staying out of the
game" I.e hospital. Can I access some of that creative and expansive
sense of wellbeing without the risk of going too far and attracting
aggressive coercive interference.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:November
15th 2015Thank
you,
Ben. You have captured my intent exactly. It's very gratifying to hear.
Of all my cartoons, this one carries the most important message. I had
to get it just right, and the process of creating it drove me a little
bit crazy.

Thisica says:August
28th 2017

Yeah--I've heard
all of the bad stuff that
can happen in the 'psychiatric' world. I don't get why psychiatrists
call themselves that, given the root meaning "curer of the soul". They
do sound collectively soulless to me.

Personally, I have
gone through waves of what I call 'wyrd' (the older English word for
'weird') experiences and don't want my understanding of them
to
be hijacked by these so-called 'psychiatrists'. The work never ends,
alas. It's a constant struggle to not get caught up in the social noise
that shouts "You're not normal!".

Armed with this unfortunate knowledge, I need to ensure I don't end up
in the "psychiatric" world.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:August
28th 2017"Hijacked"
is a good word. Psychiatrists are indoctrinated to see everything about
you through the prism of their medical training. Everything you say and
do, your habits, appearance, beliefs, passions - you name
it -
can be noted down as "symptoms" and used in evidence against
you.
If you ever have the misfortune to end up in the psychiatric world,
you'll find that out soon enough.

Thisica says:

"used in evidence against you..." Yes, indeed! From what I have read
for years on end, psychiatrists are all too keen on playing "police".
It's not for nothing that psychiatric 'hospitals' are more like
prisons, using similar methods to silence the prisoners through
torture, solitary confinement, etc.

Personally, I have
been in a psychiatric outpatient place in 2008, after a self-harm
crisis and thought loops that spiralled out of control. The place was
quite dreary and clinical--certainly not a good place to recuperate!
Fortunately, I stayed there for only one day. I later found the courage
to work through my adolescent stubbornness, via art to work through my
emotions--at home.

Nowadays, I still
find art to be helpful to express my violent and despondent feelings. I
have also found physical ritual useful, in the form of nightly meetings
out in the backyard and tea ceremonies.

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22nd May 2015

Auntie's Snakes and Ladders:
Escape from the Psych Ward

Despite
vocal claims from Psychiatry that Psych beds arealways,
always in huge demand,once
you have been admitted to a Psych ward, you can have a devil of a job
persuading the powers-that-be to let you out again. Even if you went in
there as a voluntary patient and can, in theory, simply walk off the
ward, you just try it and see what happens. The mere threat of
sectioning is enough to make most patients quickly think better of it.

If you’ve never
been a patient on a Psych ward,Auntie’s
Snakes and Ladders
will give you some idea of how the game is played. You must
convincingly feign compliance, insight and acquiescence. You soon learn
that taking your meds is a Big Deal, and that it must be done
willingly, without any resistance. Questioning your diagnosis is a
no-no as doing so impliesLack
of Insightinto
your illness. Other game tactics include: Never Joke with your
Psychiatrist – they are notoriously humourless – and Don’t Be A Smart
Ass.

Once
they let you go, the words ofWOPRfrom
the 1983 filmWar
Gamesshould
be your guide:The
only winning move is not to play.

Do
whatever you can to keep yourself on an even keel and keep yourself on
the outside… it’s the only way.

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Runner
says:
January 16th 2017

I'd
like to have this printed onto a tshirt! - Runner

Auntie
Psychiatry says:

Runner
- Yeah, it would make a great t-shirt. Please do help yourself to any
of my cartoons for this or any other purpose.

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May
15th 2015

Psychiatry: Anti-stigma campaigns

I’ve
always been wary of anti-stigma campaigns, but never quite pinned down
why that should be. After all, more openness and communication can only
be a good thing – it encourages connection and makes people feel less
alone – no problems with that. No, it’s the “illness like any other”
mantra that sends a chill down my spine – but why?

Sera
suggests that… “the idea of developing and then promoting a solely
medicalized way of understanding our distress is creating the very
‘stigma’ it seeks to eliminate.” She describes the process memorably as
a merry-go-round spinning at breakneck speed.

That
worked for me, but rather than a merry-go-round (which is fun and
exciting) I eventually settled on the image of a circular saw blade to
depict it. Oh, and a saw blade was simpler to illustrate.

I’m
quite certain that Psychiatry would turn purple with rage and
indignation at the suggestion that diagnosis comes with this subtext:Your
inner-self is diseased. It took me a long time to work
out the exact wording of that phrase. Any thoughts?

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Mark says:July
2nd
2015You
asked "any thoughts?"

Szasz wrote " No behavior or
misbehavior is a disease or can be a disease."

Today
we have electric light,cabletv, cellphone,computer, where we used to
have to sleep at night. And we also have junk food that is not good for
our minds. All the new technology man has created is hard (for the
monkey inside the human) to handle.

All mental illness
labels are stigmatising because they deny the moral
agency of the "patient". Regardless of whether the patient has acted
well or badly, denying him moral agency makes it difficult for him to
either defend himself or change his ideas.

Auntie Psychiatry says:May
3rd 2016

Alan
- Many thanks for your comment, and thanks for the link. I'm going to
revisit the writings of Thomas Szaz. It seems that mainstream
Psychiatry has learnt nothing from him, which is a pity - think where
we could be now if it had.

RachelE
says:June
16th
2016

It
may not be directly
stated by their evil diagnoses but it is definitely implied. I find it
amazing how they protest against the fact that people stigmatize and
hate us when they are directly responsible for the scapegoating. As
though most of them in their smug, socially acceptable, lucrative
positions actually gave a rip!

Excellent
"cartoons" and content. Re stigma, I have long since felt that the
primary societal stigma is the restriction of freedom - to feel fully,
to feel, express and exhibit wounding, distress and vulnerability. All
other "stigmas" are consequential to this one.

Anonymous
says:August
8th
2017

Define
"inner self"? Is that... personality? A constellation of
behaviour, affect and belief? A presence or being?I
have indeed been told by psychiatrists - upfront and in my face,
sometimes as a personal undermining the self - that I have the
inherent, genetically predisposed susceptibility to be mentally ill.
Perhaps the issue is the concept of "weakness" in society, along with
the concept of disease. I would love to talk to you more
about
your work. The saw blade is perfect.

Auntie
Psychiatry says:I
struggled to find the exact wording because, for me, this is the core
of psychiatry's misguided position, and the root cause of so much
damage. I really wanted to say... 'your
very soul is diseased'
to get across the enormity of the effect medical diagnosis can have,
but rejected it as too religious/spiritual. From your list of
suggestions, I would go with "presence of being" as a definition for
'inner self'. For
a long time I accepted the 'inherent, genetically predisposed
susceptibility to be mentally ill' explanation, but the impossiblity of
trying to separate my 'self' from the 'disease' brought on the most
enormous despair. It was only by rejecting the doctor's medical opinion
and embracing everything about me - including the crazy and the despair
- that I was able to escape the quicksand and move on.Thank
you so much for your thought-provoking comment... and I'm glad you like
the saw blade!

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Professor
Ian Reid of Aberdeen University is also unperturbed by the dizzying
rise in antidepressant prescription rates. He has no qualms about
spreading his point of view in the media that “antidepressants are not
overprescribed.”

And RCPsych president, Professor Sir Simon Wessley, is perfectly at
ease with the figures too, saying to the Guardian:
“when we talk about the rise in antidepressant prescribing, before we
start leaping to the tumbrils and saying the world’s coming to an end
we should have a look and say, hang on a second, if that is appropriate
prescribing then that’s good.”

I find their assurances terrifying.

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I
loved this poem as a child – mostly for the gruesome description of
Jim’s demise which I learnt by heart – but I was never convinced by the
moral…

And
always keep a-hold of NurseFor
fear of finding somethingworse.

I
mean, he gets EATEN by a LION! How cool is THAT??

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Boans
says:Sept
8th
2018

Reminded
me a little of Dylan's Talking World War 3 Blues, Auntie.

I said hold it doc, a world war passed through my brain.
He said nurse get your pad the boys insane.
Grabbed me by the arm and I said "ouch"
As I landed on the psychiatric couch.

Classic.

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April
3rd 2015

Auntie Psychiatry debunks the
Diabetes Analogy

The
Diabetes Analogy is one of those things that sounds plausible, but when
scrutinised turns out to be dangerous bunkum. For people with diabetes,
their blood glucose levels must be managed and maintained within a very
specific range. There is no such equivalent for any of the mental
disorders. Neurotransmitter activity is constantly changing, we have no
understanding of ‘normal’ levels.

The
Diabetes Analogy is brought to us by lead Psychiatrists, then picked up
an parroted by celebrities in their ‘anti-stigma’ messages…

from
the Royal College of Psychiatrists…”If
a person has diabetes and stops taking their medication, they may
become unwell. Similarly with schizoaffective disorder, if you stop
taking your medication, you too may become unwell.” Health
Information leaflet: Schizoaffective Disorder.

Ruby
Wax on depression and antidepressants…
“You wouldn’t say [to someone with diabetes] “Don’t take the insulin.”
I mean you really have to believe that this is the real thing”.

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Gary Sidley
says...4th
April
2015
I
love your distinctive way of illustrating the harmful nonsense of
biological Psychiatry. I look forward to reading many more of your
cartoons.

Snowsays:February
21st
2016

I know they
keep changing the normal "blood pressure" standard as well...

It become lower and
lower.

Peter
Bell says:July
16th
2017I
got diabetes through an injection when my immune system collapsed due
to an intense, extended depressive episode.To present
diabetes as a much more controllable and preventable disease is quite
simply wrong.The conditions
interact in highly complex ways.

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March 6th 2015

Rebels
who defy psychiatry
outshine the compliant

Auntie
Psychiatry says: Recovery begins with non-compliance.

A
word of warning: If you're going down the rebel route, DO NOT abruptly
stop your medication - it is a very dangerous thing to do. To find out
why, see these cartoons... A
Cautionary Tale and Rigging
Clinical Trials.

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Louisesays:April
29th
2016My
pain and acting up was called bi-polar. i agree that recovery starts
with non-compliance and I found mine with some freedom fighters in the
system. Those freedom fighters - nurse and therapist
helped
me to gradually come off the meds. I needed to come off the meds
because I was too numb to listen to the pain and trauma that had
birthed my psychosis. Once off and with support I could feel my body
and hear my mind again and they helped me interpret my story. I have
been off meds and free for 6 years. I spent a long time not only
recovering from my past traumas but in being drugged and in the system.
It's hard to say no to a giant so big, hard to not comply when the
giants army is so vast. Thanks for your posts fellow freedom fighter
and for the light and brave truths you try to shine for us.

My
own conversion to 'non-compliance' came when I discovered
anti-psychiatry activism on the nascent Internet in 1995. I will be
eternally grateful to the founder of the Madness list, Sylvia Caras,
and the band of early freedom fighters for helping me to turn my life
around. Until then I had never questioned the 'illness like any other'
line, and took my distress to be the symptoms of a life-long brain
disease. It was from these freedom fighters that I first heard the
slogan "Recovery begins with non-compliance." From that point onward, I
was able to start rebuilding my life.

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February 27th 2015

Big Pharma, Psychiatry and the
Prize Cash Cow

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February 19th 2015

Auntie Psychiatry deconstructs
the
Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) logo

1 comment

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Boans
says:Sept
8th
2018

And
wings, they gotta be helpful when doing $200 handshakes along the
wards. lol

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February 12th 2015

Auntie
Psychiatry is
anti psychiatry

1
comment

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Angela
says:August
5th
2015

Rotten
to
the
core and full of maggots.

Thanks
for
your
work!

Angela

Cheers
Angela! This was my first cartoon. The 'rotten apple' analogy is one
I've
used to describe psychiatry for years. Developing the idea into a
cartoon gave me a lot of pleasure.

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